Automatic spillway.



G. SGHALLES.

. AUTOMATIC SPILLWAY. APPLIGATION-IILED-OGT. 15, 1913.

1 85, 19 1 Patented J an. 27, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES $0.? a J ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PMNOORAPH 60., WASHINGTON, u. c.

, G. SGHALLES.

AUTOMATIC SPILLWAY. APPLICATION FILED 0(JT.15I 1918.

1,085,491, Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVENTOR 02/1/ 4 2! ,fi/iakr ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPHco..WAsmNc\TON. D. c.

G. SGHALLES.

AUTOMATIC SPILLWAY, APPLICATION FILED 00T.15, 191a.

Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ATTORNEYS wLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO WASHINGTON, u. c.

CHARLES SCI-IALLES, OF CORTEZ, COLORADO.

AUTOMATIC SPILLWAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 27, 1914.

Application filed 0c-tober 15, 1913. Serial No. 795,276.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES SCHALLES, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Cortez, in the county ofMontezuma and State of Colorado, have invented a new and ImprovedAutomatic Spillway, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to artificial water courses, such as flumes,irrigation ditches or the like.

Among the objects of the invention is to providefa ditch of thecharacter indicated having an automatically operated gate which, whenthe depth of water becomes too great in the ditch, will operate torelieve such overflow and hence prevent any objectionable circumstancewhich might be incident to such undesirable rise of water inthe ditch.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention will hereinafter bemore fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the drawingsforming a part of this specification in which like characters ofreference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a preferred form of the invention, partsbeing in section to better illustrate the construction; Fig. 2 is a planview corresponding to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an end elevation, the ditchbeing in section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a partiallongitudinal section on the line 44 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a detail onthe line 55 of Fig. 2.

The several parts of the invention may be made of any suitablematerials, and the relative sizes proportions, as well as the generaldesign of the mechanism, may be varied without departing from the spiritof the invention hereinafter more fully set forth and specificallyclaimed. I wish it to be understood also that while for convenience ofdescription I will hereinafter employ the term ditch as indicative ofthe waterway, such term is to be given an interpretation as broad as thecharacter of the invention will warrant.

The numeral 10 represents a ditch of any suitable character along whichwater is to be conveyed in the direction of the arrow on Fig. 2. Onewall of the ditch construction is provided with a gate llarranged toswing inwardly on a vertical pivot 12, the pivot being on the downstreamside of the gated whereby the gate when open will act as a cutoff forthe current and hence direct the current outwardly through the gateway.The structure of the gate with respect to the wall with which itcooperates is such that the body of water within the ditch servesnormally to hold the gate shut substantially watertight.

The wall of the ditch on the side opposite the gate 11 is provided withoverflow openings therethrough and shown at 13 and 14:. These openingsmay be arranged at any suitable elevations from the bottom of the ditchin accordance with the conditions to be determined thereby. The opening13 is arranged at such an elevation as to cause water to overflowtherethrough at the time the maximum desired depth of water is reachedin the ditch. In other words, when the ditch is carrying an excess ofwater and the depth thereof should be reduced the water will overflowthrough the opening 13 and be directed therefrom by means of a spout 15into a receptacle 16 suspended on the outside of the ditch so as toswing in a vertical plane. coming filled with water moves downwardly,and I provide some suitable connections between such receptacle and thegate 11 whereby the weight of the filled receptacle overcomes thelateral pressure of the water in the ditch and forces the gate open sothat it will occupy the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.When the gate 11 is open, the water in the ditch will be free to escapethrough the gateway as above indicated. In

order to regnlate, however, the amount of discharge of the water in theditch through the gateway or to maintain so far as possible the level ofthe water substantially uniform I provide a means made effective throughthe other overflow opening 14 to restore the receptacle 16 to its normalelevated position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and to reclose the gate 11.The means I show for this purpose, and which has proved satisfactory,comprises a counterweight receptacle 17 adapted to receive water throughthe overflow opening 14 by means of a spout 18. The latter openingshould be arranged at some convenient point below the low water mark inthe ditch so as to insure that a flow therethrough will always besecured within the purpose of the invention. Said opening 14:, however,is normally closed by a valve 19 of any suitable nature. Such valve Thereceptacle 16 on beis shown herein as being pivoted upon a horizontalpivot 20 above the opening and having connected thereto a bell crank 21having loose slidable engagement with a rod 22 carried by thecounterweight 17. The necessary pressure upon the valve 19 to maintainit closed against the internal pres sure of the water in the ditch maybe secured through a spring 23 surrounding the upper end of the rod andacting between said bell crank and a nut 24 when the counterweight androd are down. Each of the receptacles 16 and 17 is provided in itsbottom with an automatically opening trap 25 whereby when either ofthese receptacles is carried downwardly with a charge of Water, the trapwill open upwardly to discharge such water. The trap 25, however,automatically closes when the receptacle is in elevated receivingposition.

Any suitable means may be provided to connectthe two receptacles forsimultaneous operation and whereby either of them when loaded will causethe lifting of the other with a corresponding movement of the gate 11.The means I employ preferably for this purpose comprises a pair ofparallel levers 26 and 27 of equal length and pivoted at 26 and 27respectively to an u right portion of the frame supporting the ditchshown at 28. Each of the levers above mentioned may be arranged induplicate and the receptacles are suspended from the opposite ends ofboth parts of the same by means of hangers 29. While the receptaclesmove in a vertical plane in arcs of circles, the hangers and compoundlever connections will insure that the receptacles will not tilt orswing so as to interfere with the proper operation. A bell crank 30 isso connected through the lever 27 to the gate 11 as to provide for theswin ing of the gate on its vertical pivot on eacli oscillation of saidlever 27. For this purpose the pivot post 12 is provided with an arm 31and a connecting rod 32 reaches from said arm to the upper end of thebell crank 30. Said pivot post 12 is preferably mounted upon a stepbearing 33 having vertically adjustable connection with the bottom ofthe ditch construction. The upper end of the step bearing is adapted toreceive the point 12' of the lower end of the post 12. Said postfurthermore is adapted to move with the gate 11 vertically in itsbearings so as to enable the gate to ride over a stone or otherobstruction in the bottom of the ditch.

From the foregoing description of the automatic construction, itsoperation may be briefly described as follows: With the parts in theirnormal position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a current of water will beunderstood as flowing along the ditch. WVhen the depth of the waterbecomes so great, however, as to overflow through the opening 13, thenormally empty receptacle 16 will receive such overflow and becomefilled or sufiiciently filled to cause the oscillation of the levers 26and 27 and the opening of the gate 11 against internal pressure of thewater. Such downward swinging movement of the receptacle 16 in additionto opening the gate 11 will elevate the counterweight 17, causing theoperation thereof to open the valve 19. Since the opening 14: is belowthe normal or desired level of water in the ditch, the receptacle 17will be filled with water immediately after it is elevated. So long,however, as the flow of water is full or strong against the open gate11, the counterweight will not be permitted to sink immediately. Thenthe pressure against the gate is'relieved, however,

by the fall of water in the ditch, the counterweight 17 will sink toits-normal position and restore the receptacle 16 to its elevatedposition and the gate will be closed due to the weight of water in thecounterweight.

The valve 19 will also be restored to its closed position by theconnections 21 and 22 above described.

At 34: I show an auxiliary gate hung on a vertical pivot 35 on thedownstream side of the automatic mechanism above described. This gate34.- is normally held suspended by means of a pin 36 and loop 37 so asnot to obstruct the ditch. For the purposes of its manipulation the gate34 is slidable vertically along its pivot support 35. The purpose ofthis auxiliary gate is to enable the ditch tender to determine at anytime whet-her the automatic mechanism is in operative condition. Byremoving the gate 34 from its pin and lowering it in the current, itwill be carried to the closed position shown in Fig. 2 by the current,and this will dam up the water so as to cause an overflow to take placethrough the opening 13 and setting the automatic mechanism intooperation as already set forth. After the gate 11 is opened in this way,the auxiliary gate 34 being relieved from the pressure of the current,may be easily restored to its normal matically when the water in theditch H reaches a certain predetermined depth, said automatic meansincluding a receptacle mounted on the outside of the ditch and movabledownwardly in a vertical plane when filled and also includingconnections between said receptacle and said gate, an

opening being provided through the wall of the ditch to cause theoverflow to fill said receptacle.

2. In an automatic spillway, the combination with a ditch and a normallyclosed gate in one wall thereof, said gate being mounted on a verticalpivot and adapted to swing across the ditch into the current, ofconnections to the gate operative automatically to open the gate whenthe water reaches a certain predetermined depth, said automatic meansincluding a receptacle mounted for reciprocations in a vertical plane,means being provided to cause the water to overflow when it reaches acertain level to fill said receptacle, and means to restore saidreceptacle to its normal elevated position and close the gate when thedepth of water is lowered, substantially as set forth.

3. In an automatic spillway, the combination with a ditch and a gatenormally closing one side thereof, said ditch having on the oppositeside an overflow opening, of a receptacle adapted to receive water fromsaid overflow, a member to which said receptacle is connected at oneend, connections between said member and the gate whereby the filledreceptacle will cause the opening of the gate, and means connected toanother portion of said member to restore the receptacle to its normalposition and close the gate.

4. In a device of the character set forth, the combination of a ditchhaving a normally closed gate, a normally open overflow opening and anormally closed overflow opening, a plurality of receptacles adapted toreceive water in succession from said over flow openings, a memberconnecting said receptacles for simultaneous movement in oppositedirections in a vertical plane, connections between said member and thegate to cause movement of the gate in accordance with the verticalmovements of said receptacles, and means to discharge the water fromeach receptacle after it has caused through its load of water therequired movement of said member and gate.

5. In a device of the character set forth, the combination of a ditchhaving a normally closed gate and a. pair of overflow openings, av bellcrank lever, a pair of re ceptacles connected to opposite ends of saidlever and adapted to become filled in succession from the severaloverflow openings, con-- nections between the bell crank lever and thegate whereby an oscillation of said member will cause a correspondingmovement of said gate, and means under the control of one of saidreceptacles to normally close one of said overflow openings.

6. In a device of the character set forth, the combination of a ditchhaving a normally closed gate adapted to swing across the ditch toobstruct the current during the discharge of a surplus of water,automatically operated means made effective by the excess of flow in theditch to cause the opening of said gate, and hand operated auxiliarymeans connected to the ditch and adapted to be swung across the same inthe current to set said automatic means into operation, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES SOHALLES.

Witnesses CLAYTON H. RUDY, PAUL STEINOU.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

